ASUS ZenFone 2 – camera or phone or both?

Today on a lovely cool May afternoon I traveled to Manhattan to see the ASUS ZenFone 2 Unveiling. While we were served something to nosh on we could walk around and look at their fabulous laptops. In fact that’s what I know ASUS brand from: really reliable laptops. They have them big, small, touch, and incredibly beautiful gamer laptops.

New York, NY (May 18th, 2015) — ASUS Chairman Jonney Shih today introduced ZenFone 2 and the latest ZenBook models to the United States and Canada at the Incredible Comes to New York press event. Hosted at the sophisticated and stylish Gotham Hall in Manhattan, the event showcased a line-up of meticulously-crafted products in their North American debut and featured a stunning acrobatic dance performance creatively highlighting photography with ZenFone 2.

ZenFone 2 is the flagship ASUS smartphone designed to be an empowering luxury for everyone to enjoy. A marvel of craftsmanship and engineering, ZenFone 2 features a 13 MP camera with ASUS-exclusive PixelMaster camera technology, the brand-new ZenUI user interface, Dual-SIM, Dual-Active (DSDA) capability, and incredible performance that delivers a premium smartphone experience to users. ZenFone 2 is coming to market in the United States unlocked and contract-free, giving users freedom to enjoy the smartphone on the service provider of their choice.

“ZenFone 2 has been incredibly popular with consumers in Asia and Europe, and we are very excited to bring this empowering luxury to North America,” said Mr. Shih. “Striking the perfect balance of beauty, functionality, and performance, ZenFone 2 embodies every aspect of the ASUS In Search of Incredible brand spirit to provide an unparalleled experience to users.”

Aicha Evans, Intel Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the Communication and Devices Group, joined Mr. Shih onstage in celebration of the long-term partnership between the two companies. “We are excited to support ASUS in bringing the popular ZenFone 2 to North America,” said Ms. Evans. “We are proud that our long-standing relationship with ASUS continues to deliver innovation. With the ZenFone 2, people will have a great mobile experience in an affordable and sleek form factor, enabled by the 64-bit Intel Atom processor together with Intel’s LTE-Advanced XMM 7260 modem for fast and reliable cellular speeds.”

Also making an appearance at the event was digital artist and Instagram sensation Robert Jahns, who endorsed the ZenFone 2 See What Others Can’t See photography campaign, a global campaign designed to showcase the advantages of ZenFone 2’s PixelMaster camera technology.

ASUS ZenFone 2 is available in black, red, gray and silver.

See What Others Can’t See — ASUS ZenFone 2

ZenFone 2 is the new flagship smartphone in the hugely-successful ASUS ZenFone family, featuring an all-new design, 13MP PixelMaster camera, and uncompromising performance delivered by a 64-bit Intel® Atom™ Z3580 (‘Moorefield’) processor with up to 4GB RAM. An Intel LTE-Advanced modem provides ultra-fast and reliable 4G/LTE connectivity. Building on the success of ZenFone and leveraging a quarter-century of engineering accomplishments, the highly-anticipated ZenFone 2 provides a wealth of exciting new features and a refined ASUS ZenUI experience to deliver a new level of empowering luxury for everyone.

ZenFone 2 has a gorgeous, all-new design that employs iconic Zen design elements, such as a sleek, brushed-metal finish and concentric-circle detailing, and introduces new refinements, including a graceful curved case that tapers to an incredibly-thin 0.15 inch at the edges. The exclusive Ergonomic Arc design provides a comfortable, secure grip, and features an intuitively-placed volume-control key on the rear of the phone within easy reach of the user’s index finger. The 5.5-inch Full HD IPS screen has a large 72% screen-to-body ratio that provides a maximized viewing experience, while reducing ZenFone 2’s overall size.

ZenFone 2 has a 3000mAh battery that provides more than enough power to get through the day, and it also features BoostMaster1 fast-charge technology for dramatically-reduced recharge times.

World’s slimmest 13.3-inch QHD+ ultraportable — ASUS ZenBook UX305

ZenBook UX305 has a subtle and refined new shape that incorporates the DNA of the classic ZenBook. It features an elegantly-tapered design with smooth, comfortable edges and diamond-cut highlights that subtly emphasize the sleekness of the 0.48inch-thin case — and it weighs just 2.64lbs. The UX305 is available in crystal white, champagne gold and obsidian stone black.

ZenBook UX305 is powered by an Intel Core™ M processor, a remarkably power-efficient processor designed for ultra slim devices that effortlessly delivers smooth performance. In combination with up to 8GB of RAM and an ultra-fast up to 512GB SSD, UX305 delivers impressive all-round performance for daily computing.

A stunning ultraportable needs a display that’s out of the ordinary, so ZenBook UX305 is fitted with an ultra-sharp 13.3-inch in-plane switching (IPS) multi-touch display with an up to QHD+ resolution of 3200 x 1800 pixels and wide viewing angles. This display has five times (5X) the resolution of a standard HD display, and features an amazing pixel density of 276PPI for crisp, vivid and lifelike images and video. With 300cd/m2 brightness, a contrast ratio of 770:1 and an ergonomic anti-glare coating, blacks are deep, whites are stunningly pure, and the wide color gamut (72% NTSC) ensures accurate colors. ZenBook UX305 is also equipped with three SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports for data transfers that are up to ten times (10X) faster than USB 2.0. One of the USB ports supports ASUS Charger+ technology for rapid recharging of mobile devices. A USB-to-Ethernet adapter is bundled with UX305, along with a mini DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter — enabling easy connection to an external monitor.

At the heart of ZenBook Pro UX501 is the ultra-powerful quad-core Intel Core i7-4720HQ processor, providing effortless performance for any task. With a massive 16GB of RAM, multitasking is super-smooth and there’s plenty of processing horsepower in reserve for even the most intensive number-crunching tasks.

ASUS VisualMaster displays set the standard for laptops, incorporating some of the very latest technology to give users unrivaled visual clarity and detail. ZenBook Pro UX501 has a 15.6-inch multi-touch display with a pin-sharp 4K/UHD 3860 x 2160 resolution — four times (4X) higher than Full HD —and an incredible pixel density of 282PPI for stunningly-detailed and lifelike images. IPS technology with wide 178-degree viewing angles ensures that colors and contrast are not degraded from any viewing position.

Ultra-fast storage is essential for fast boot times and effortless file operations, so ZenBook Pro UX501 is available with the world’s fastest SSD. With a PCI Express® (PCIe®) x4 interface and up to 512GB capacity, the read/write speeds of up to 1400MB/s are twice as fast as competing PCIe x2 models, and 16 times (16X) faster than common SATA 6.0Gbit/s hard disk drives. And with no moving parts, ZenBook Pro UX501’s SSD is both reliable and totally silent.

An advanced thermal-management system combined with ZenBook Pro UX501’s 96Wh lithium-polymer battery means that users won’t need to find a mains-power outlet for up to six hours — and even beyond..

Accessories include a portable flash device called Lolliflash which can be used by inserting into the phones audio plug or being held to the side of whoever you wish to photograph. You can also wrap colored filters over the light face for interesting effects.

ASUS ZenFone 2 will be available in red, black, gray and silver from May 19th, 2015, costing $199 for the 2GB RAM/1.8GHz version with 16GB storage and an Intel Atom Z3560 processor, or $299 for the 4GB RAM/2.3GHz version with 64GB storage, an Intel Atom Z3580 processor and a BoostMaster charger. It will be available to order from Amazon.com, B&H, Groupon.com and NewEgg.com in the US and NewEgg.ca, NCIX.com, Canada Computer and Memory Express in Canada. For further product information, please visit: http://www.asus.com/us/Phones/ZenFone_2_ZE551ML/

ASUS North America Facebook Page
As is turns out we got phones of our own to play with so I’ll be doing some serious experimenting with this camera. I might even make a few calls……So stay tuned…more to come

A talented and Emmy-winning digital special effects technician by trade, Cecilia has also made her mark over the years as a writer in video editing magazines. Her CV includes HBO’s "From the Earth to the Moon" and SciFi Channel’s "Frank Herbert's Dune" and "Children of Dune". The most recent Visual Effects work was done for an online film: "Eye of the Bennu". This project was notable for being the first film made entirely by people only communicating over the Internet. No one has ever actually met in person. A virtual film made by virtual people. Cecilia is currently making props for a short film project about a violent monk. Hmm.